


A Voyage of Night

by Skeren



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fae & Fairies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 03:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeren/pseuds/Skeren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Insanejournal in November of 2009.
> 
> Will be marked as finished unless I decide to add to it further someday.

Have you ever been outside on a night that made you think it was another? On a night far before the day of harvest and spirits, but with the weight of that very day, pressing down upon you as though the very night wanted to touch you?

This was a night such as that, with the fog curling around his feet as he picked his way higher into the mountains, flashlight in hand and a coat wrapped around his shoulders. He didn’t pay heed to those subtle signs, the mockery of the inaccuracy of a human calendar that had long fallen out of sync with the spirits. 

It was their night and this unwitting youth was treading upon their path, straying ever deeper into forests he wouldn’t recognize if he simply raised his head to look. But they weren’t unkind. Spirits weren’t set upon the youth, kept away by a far more curious body, one far more vicious than any mere spirit could hope to become.

That fae, sadly, wasn’t quick enough to act against one however, his violet eyes narrowing in annoyance as the red garbed figure slipped forward to block the youth. The one in red knew, and simply smiled, blue eyes meeting ones even more vivid than his own, but with a glow so much less than his own, merely reflected light and the essence that any human had within them to play with. 

The blond, for his part, was shocked. So high up in the mountains there should have been _no one_ but himself out and around, let alone a complete stranger. They didn’t get them often, and they were well celebrated when they came. As long as they didn’t overstay themselves anyway. But this man, well, where had he _come_ from? The only way to know was to ask. “Are you lost?”

The man shifted his red cloak around him, blue eyes plainly amused as he cocked his head, reddish hair falling across his eyes as one hand lifted to block the light from his face. “No, however, can you say the same?”

“What?” There was a visible lurch from the blond, then he whipped around, light dancing over the trees and path as he abruptly realized that somehow he’d lost track of his normal route. He should have been able to walk that in his sleep. “This isn’t right.” The beam flicked back to the stranger, his odd clothes instead of his face this time. They were archaic, fancy, and looked too much like blood for his taste. “Who are you and what’s going on?”

“You may call me Genesis, and as for what’s going on... well, it’s a special night and you have drawn some very interested attention.”

”Excuse me?” The blond’s eyes narrowed. 

“Isn’t it custom to give a name for a name?” A smirk crossed the man’s face and he was sure the blond had caught the glimpse of fang when his bright eyes focused uneasily on his lips.

“I guess... Cloud. Why don’t I know you? Are you from around here? One of the other towns?”

“Something like that. I could show you.”

”No thanks, just a name’d be good.”

”You’re doing it wrong.” The voice came from the side of them both, a growl of a grumble before a black haired man tumbled with a little trip out of the bushes, righting himself as he picked leaves out of his hair. “All wrong.”

“And you think you can do it better whelp? You have no sense of _tradition_.” Pale blue and violet clashed as the two men glared at each other.

“Um. New guy, Genesis, what’s going _on_?”

Immediately violet eyes fastened onto the blond and he gave a wolfish grin, slipping forward to take his hands and rudely shouldering Genesis aside. “You can call me Zack. We’re from close, and it’s a wonderful place, but they’re all quite isolated, twitchy for strangers you know.” He tilted his head towards the fuming redhead. “Like him. All set in tradition. But, the place is gorgeous. Won’t you at least come see? If you insist we’ll have you back by morning. But only if you insist.”

Cloud blinked at him a few times in shock before jerking his hands away, a bit of a blush on his face. “I’m not going to sleep with you people.”

“What?” The word was a squawk as Zack’s eyes widened, and then he quickly grabbed his hands again. “No no no. I just want to show you our home, I promise. It’s so beautiful there. Nothing like those polluted places where nobody knows how to breathe. Just come see. Come see someplace that’s not ruined yet, won’t you?”

Deciding to help instead of hinder, as his youngest lover shared his interest in this one, he moved to run gloved fingers over the bound back hair. “Just come, you will be in no danger from out hands. You had nowhere better to be, did you?”

The youth visibly hesitated, making Zack wonder if he was thinking of that girl that had run through the forest at sunset had this one’s attention. If she did, she would fail against them. They had so much better things to offer than any human child ever would. “Please, come. We’ll even feed you if you want.” 

Sighing, and giving the hands on his a suspicious look, Cloud finally nodded, obviously reluctant, and gave them what they needed to take him away. “I’ll go with you to your home, but you better not let anyone attack me.”

Genesis laughed lowly and turned to sweep off down the path. “Then come Cloud, come and know a place you never imagine real.”

Zack shook his head and wrapped his arm around the youth’s waist, dragging him along before he could change his mind. He was theirs now. Oh but how the others would be pleased. Sephiroth had always been fascinated by the humans, and what better gift than one who came of his own will after all?

They simply had to convince him to stay, but he was sure that wouldn’t be so difficult. 

Morning was a _very_ long time away.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been one of the restless times. He didn’t fear them so much as they wore on his nerves, sending his attention away from his collection of lovers and into eternal stone, where none could reach him so long as he was within his mastery. 

He’d been told he looked like silver and marble had imprinted themselves on his skin and hair, but nothing said that the reverse wasn’t true, did it? The only real hint of his mixed heritage was the eyes, so much less obvious than Genesis’ wolfish fangs and Zack’s giving manners. Even Angeal had his way, slipping from shadow to liquid shadow like smoke without so much as a look or thought. 

Only he managed to startle his lovers half so badly as Angeal could when he got into a mood. And he didn’t require a play of light to do it either, thus, his was clearly superior. 

Not all would agree, of course, but the mother loved him, thus, his gift. If the Planet didn’t love him, why would he be allowed to come and go from stone as though air and water, breathing in the power of it and walking away ever stronger?

It terrified some of the fae, made them wary. Others held him in awe. Few saw him as the kind person he could be when he felt like it, or the relatively nice one he was to his lovers. At times at least. No, the consensus seemed to be that he was as cold as the stone he was so intimate with.

They didn’t know and never could, thus, his retreat. He knew Angeal didn’t care for it, but he understood better than the other lovers, and was relieved that the other two had gone off to play with the thinning. They kept wanting to when it neared, but were frustratingly less than persistent about actually doing it. 

How could they bring back something he wanted to hear if they never bothered to go?

But, that was moot now, and he would see what they brought back with them, be it trinkets or stories, and would be satisfied that he knew more than he had before. As it should be. 

He didn’t like leaving the hill. No matter what sweet temptations there were on the surface, nor his age, he simply... Well, he was not afraid, but he knew in his bones and heart that the above was no place for one of his way. It would consume him. 

Realizing that his thoughts were spiralling ever tighter, he cast out his attention, tracing lines of stone carved by water as he tried to determine if his lover had moved. 

He had not. 

Soothed by the stability of that lack of motion, he slipped back that direction, following walls, then the floor, until he was near him. Only then did he reach for his fragile magic bound form of flesh, slipping from the stone as easily as he’d crawled into it as he studied the other man. “Have they returned?”

“Not quite yet, but they’re coming. I hear whispers.”

“Not the kind I’d notice mm?”

That got a soft laugh from the other man. They both knew nothing short of the earth herself moving would draw the mother to speak to him as the shadows ever gossiped to Angeal. “I doubt they ever will be Sephiroth.”

He nodded, humming low in his throat as he settled at the other man’s side. There was nothing more that needed to be said, and for now, there was naught to do but wait. 

Patience had its rewards, and he was one of earth. If he hadn’t known patience as a child, he’d definitely learned it since.

Thus, he could wait. 

Even if he truly was curious.


End file.
